Integrating a PayPal Express Checkout payment gateway

The Paypal Express Checkout payment gateway is a mobile optimised payment solution which allows you to accept credit and debit cards as well as bank transfers.This gateway promises a short and seamless payment process and is touted to have one of the best success rates.

Moreover, this gateway also equips you to set up automatic order renewal, whereby prior to expiry your customers’ orders will be automatically renewed by charging the payment method available in their Paypal account.

Before you Start

You will need to sign up at Paypal or use your existing merchant account to obtain the below information:

In the menu, navigate to Settings -> Finance & Billing -> Payment Gateway and then click on List / Add.

Click on the Add a Gateway link.

Click on the Paypal Express Checkout link.

On the following page you need to enter:

Your Merchant Details :

API Username

API Signature

API Password

Your Gateway Settings :

Gateway Name: This name will be shown to your customers / sub-resellers, when they are about to make a payment. If you would like to be more specific, you can use something like Credit Card Payment or Visa/Mastercard, etc.

Collect Payments in: The currency you want to accept payments in.

Note:

If you set this currency different from your selling currency, then the system will automatically maintain the exchange rate. This exchange rate is derived from a trusted source and updated daily. Alternatively, you can choose to maintain the rates yourself by checking the I would like to Maintain the currency exchange rate myself checkbox. You will then need to submit a value for the exchange rate in the corresponding field.

Types of Cards You Accept: Depending on which cards are supported by your merchant account, select whether you would like to accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diner's Club or JCB credit cards.

Enable Gateway For: You can choose to enable the gateway for certain types of transactions only (like Adding Funds or Payments for Invoices/Debit Notes). Moreover, you can restrict the gateway for either Customers or Sub-Resellers, depending on your business model. You can choose from the following options:

Type of Transactions :

All Transactions: accept all types of transactions from your customers and sub-resellers.

Adding Funds only: allow your customers and sub-resellers to use this gateway to add funds only.

No Transactions: will disable the gateway for your customers and sub-resellers.

Enabled For :

All Customers/ All Resellers

Specific Customers/ Specific Resellers

Customers from certain countries/ Resellers from certain countries

Charge Fees for Adding Funds: Your bank and Paypal Express Checkout may charge a fee per transaction. While you will have to bear these charges when a customer purchases something from you, you can pass them on when they add funds. Hence, the net amount (after deducting these charges) will be added to their respective accounts.

Verify Transactions: PayPal has two types of account holders: verified and unverified. You can choose to manually verify transactions with unverified members. Such transactions will be left pending until you approve or cancel them.

Auto-Renew Orders: If you enable this option your customers can select to have their orders automatically renewed prior to expiry.

IMPORTANT: In order to enable this option you need to first enable reference transactions for your PayPal merchant account.

Approve Pending Transactions: If you would like to receive emails for transactions that need to be manually approved then you can selectSend me a Reminder if a transaction is pending for more than x days and enter the number of days.Display Position: If you plan on adding multiple gateways, you can select the position in which you wish to display this gateway on your payment page.